Adventures of Team 14
by GaMeBrEaKeR
Summary: Shikamaru has been finally promoted to jounin under the circumstances of a fellow peer being too injured from a mission to lead Team 14. As troublesome as it seems, Shikamaru is their new instructor and the missions they face will turn Team 14 legendary.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It was a cold, cloudy, dark night. A young kunoichi was in a black shinobi suit with a mask as she swiftly went branch to branch swiftly. Her movements were nothing but a blur, and she didn't let off any sounds revealing her presence.

"I'm almost there..., about freakin' time," she whispered to herself. She immediately stopped once she saw a large group of people discussing their plans.

"After the robbery, we will split into two groups. Group A will head northward, and the Group B will head southward to shake them off. Then we all come back to this spot at midnight to regroup. Any questions, Genji gang?"

"Naw, Boss. This will be as easy as any other job we did. Right, guys?" The whole crowd started hollering loudly, unashamed of their actions and unaware of their future consequences.

They were about to leave, but the woman jumped in front of them to block the exit in the direction they were heading.

"Well, hello there, boys," she said as she slowly peeled off her mask. And with that, it released her long, luxurious, blond hair. She threw the mask in front of them, and stared at them in a seductive manner.

"Well, hello there, babe. Boss, you mind if I'm a little late on our way to the bank?" one of the gang members asked with a smirk.

"Ha ha... I'm not one to break up a good thing, and I do mean good, but you can always do the girl later. We have business to handle. Lady, feel free to get yourself hot and wet for when we get back," the Boss replied with a laugh.

The other guy sighed in disappointment as he re-observed the beautiful person in front of him. He was about to open his mouth, but the woman started to softly touch his chin. He started shaking his leg in excitement as the other guys hollered like animals, cheering him on.

"Aww, but I don't want you to go. All of you...," she said softly and sweetly. The other guys slowly developed a wide, happy grin, including the Boss.

"Well, a little delay is not that big of a problem. I got first dibs on the lady though!" he declared loudly as rest of the Genji gang rooted him on. He walked forward, but the kunoichi pulled the guy she was fondling with in front of her.

"Do you mind if I play with him, first?" she asked in her same sexy, seductive tone.

The Boss reluctantly agreed as he stepped back to allow his subordinate have a fun time with this mysterious and beautiful stranger.

The guy quickly took initiative and grabbed her ass and pushed her toward his body. "Let's get it on then!"

She smiled as she pulled his arms away from her rear. "I tend to play hard-to-get..."

He gave off a bewildered expression on his face. "What you mean, baby?"

"I mean...," she started. The woman took a couple of steps back, and without warning, she sent a strong high kick to his jaw. His feet left the ground as he went up in the air from the impact of the attack. She jumped along with him and squeezed his neck. Then she kneed him in the stomach hard enough to flip his body upside-down, and she used his neck to slam him hard into the ground, head through the dirt.

"Hard-to-get as in that I'm gonna give a hell of an ass kicking before any of you half-wit morons can ever touch me!" she spoke suddenly in a more aggressive and rough manner.

The Genji gang showed shock as they saw her brutal assault on their comrade. Their expressions changed gradually as they looked on though. The image of disbelief turn into mischief, as all of them grinned revealing so.

"Quite a feisty girl, ain't she?" one of them said as he licked his lips while staring at the woman's body.

"Very," another one said as he started chuckling.

"There's no need for me to say it, but don't kill her. I'm not in the mood of fucking a dead corpse tonight," ordered the Boss. They grinned wider as two guys ran forward with kunais.

One went forward for a stab, but she spun her body gracefully to dodge it. She grabbed the arm with the kunai tightly. Then spun him around and knocked the other guy out with his own comrade. After that, she threw the guy that she was spinning around very high into a tree, leaving him hanging on a branch, to dizzy and scared of heights to do anything else.

"Who's next?" she asked in a mocking, soft voice.

They were about to all rush forward, but the Boss stuck his hand out to stop them. "The bitch is mine!" he declared in a calm voice as he stepped forward. He got into a boxing stance as he waited for her to attack.

She smiled as she looked at him. "Are you sure you want me to strike you first? I'm warning you, I'm no joke for you or anybody for that matter to be thought little of. I will pound you into next Thursday before you realize it. It would be so painful that by the time you wake up from my beating, you would be in the next millennium as an old geezer with two fake legs, twenty broken bones out of your remaining twenty five, no teeth, and balls with the size of raisins that haven't got any action for a long time. Actually, I don't doubt if your dick isn't already like that now, eh little man?"

The Boss showed a very irritated face and threw his fist forward in rage. She caught it with one hand before it touched her chest. "I doubt the results will change if you attempt to hit me first either, so..., too bad for you..." He pulled his hand back and threw another punch with the same hand. She caught it once again. "What is this? A fight or a dance? Anyways, I don't have time to play with weak boys..."

She pulled his fist down, making him tumble forward. She raised her knee and smashed it in his face. The guy stood straight up for a bit, and she quickly did a jumping spin kick, knocking him hard down to the ground. He was about to get right back up, but stayed down and slipped into a coma.

"She's a monster," they murmured among themselves as they saw how quickly their leader was defeated.

One of them raised his voice to guide his comrades. "She may be tough, but she's only one person. There's near 30 of us standing! There's no way in hell can a female beat all of us!"

"Well, aren't you Mr. Sexist?" she commented. "Please by all means, show what you boys are capable of that doesn't involve picking on the defenseless..."

They yelled out battle cries as all of the Genji gang came toward her. The woman started doing some handseals as they came in closer. One was about to come into contact to her with his fist, but she disappeared right in front of him.

She re-appeared in middle of the crowd and spoke loudly of her technique's name. "Delusional Crush!"

Seconds later, the gang members were all on the floor, unconscious. She let out a loud yawn as she talked to herself.

"Man, I thought a group of 30 something guys was going to give me some sort of challenge. Not even close! I swear, Team 14 had given me more fun days than going solo. Everything is just so boring when you're by yourself..."

Meanwhile, on another side of Konoha was a small hut in an isolated part of the woods. There was a man in there, resting and drinking tea. He had long hair and was wearing armor over his clothes. There was also something peculiar about his eyes. It had no pupils, just all white. The side of the eyes had veins sticking out too.

As he was about to take another sip of his tea, he threw the cup aside and jumped out of the window. Seconds later, the hut blew up with a huge explosion that could've instantly killed anybody that was still inside the place.

The man stood right back up and dusted himself off. "I assume you are after my head for what I did this afternoon."

A male shinobi in full dark uniform, including a mask that covered most of his head, appeared in front of him. "If you know what you did will make you a wanted criminal, why did you do it?" he questioned his target.

"I have my reasons... my Byakugan eyes see lot of compassion in your eyes. Are you will to do what it takes to bring an outlaw, like myself, down?"

"We'll have to see, won't we? Hyuuga Toukaru, you will pay for your treason against the Hyuuga household and Konoha!"

"Treason, huh? Well, do what you have to do. But I warn you, I won't allow myself to fall so easily, regardless of your rising reputation of being one of the bests," Toukaru advised.

He ran forward and was about to get up close and personal with the fighting style the Hyuuga clan was known for. But the other guy responded by blocking the fierce attacks toward his tenketsus (chakra holes) with the hilt of his katana, which was still in its sheath, connected to his belt. The shinobi jumped back and pulled the katana (along with its sheath) off the belt. He quickly swiped the air with it, sending enough air pressure to send the case of the weapon off. Then the shinobi went on the offensive and attempted a slash on the Hyuuga. Toukaru dodged it by bending backwards. He kicked the enemy's wrist upward to give himself enough room to flip backwards, creating distance to re-adjust battle tactics.

The katana fumbled in the air from being kicked in the wrist by Toukaru. The blade pointed downwards and was coming back down toward the shinobi's head. Without leaving the target off his sights, he hit the dull side of the weapon and caught it on the side with the hilt.

He brought his hand back with the katana pointing forward, as he bent down low. "Shall we restart?"

"By all means..."

The shinobi dashed forward and took out two shurikens from his pouch. He threw them forward and both aimed toward the neck of the Hyuuga. Toukaru swiftly moved his hands in front of them and caught them. While he was distracted for that one moment, the shinobi ran toward him quickly and swung his katana right at the head of Toukaru. He barely dodged the deadly attack, leaving some hair strands of his cut off.

"Foolish, hot blooded-child! Let the 64 Points of Divination and your misery!" He was about to get into the stance to signify the start of a vicious Hyuuga clan attack, but he couldn't move. The moon shined for that one instance before it was covered by the clouds again, revealing wires all around him. "What is this?"

"I guess even with the Byakugan you guys can be careless. Only a rookie would go in for the kill without a back-up plan," he said as he wiggled the wires with his other hand. "You think way too little of me even though you know who I' am. I have been taught better than that by several great men." Then the shinobi of Konoha raised his katana and pointed it at the side of the neck of his mission objective. "Game over!"

"Hmph, it'll be years before you can match fist to fist with me..., KAITEN!" He spun around quickly, forming a tornado like shield, knocking the enemy on his back as well as cutting the wires wrapped around him. As the shinobi fell, he dropped his katana beside him. Toukaru paused for a second to glance at how pathetic his opponent was now.

The shinobi slowly got back up and noticed his target was gone. He was about to grab his katana, but his hand was kicked away and two quick hand thrusts stabbed his shoulders. The shinobi gave a short cry of pain as he stepped backwards.

Toukaru grinned as he held up the katana. "I'm afraid it is now game over for you... But, unlike you, I'll give you a second chance to live. Dismiss at once! I don't want to see a talent, like yourself, throw his life away."

"Please..., don't underestimate me!"

He suddenly threw forward a rain of needles at the Hyuuga. Again, Toukaru was perfectly prepared for the attack. "Kaiten!" He spun around in blurring speed, knocking away all the needles aimed at him. Right as he stopped, a shuriken was mere seconds away from making contact between his eyes. He brought the katana horizontally up in front of him to block the projectile. The shuriken suddenly jerked up 20 degrees, going right at his forehead. Toukaru bent backwards again to avoid the weapon. The projectile stopped in mid-air and wrapped around the katana. Then the shinobi yanked it back, and it slipped out of the hands of the enemy.

He caught his katana smoothly and smirked at him. "My attacks aren't some open book, like you assume..."

"Very nice. But how did you know about my one second of vulnerability after my Kaiten?"

"After I saw you did it the first time, I notice you fumbled minorly and messed up your footwork. So in an attempt to get back my weapon, I decided to use distraction (rain of needles), display (due to vulnerability of the body, Toukaru used the katana to defend himself from the shuriken), and retrieve (using a wire tied to the shuriken to wrap around the blade and pulled it back) plan."

"Hmm, you're pretty clever for a person your age. But don't gloat too much, I'm just starting," Toukaru warned. He got into a Hyuuga fighting stance as he stared at his opponent.

"Actually, I have no desire to lengthen this fight any longer. I'm ending it now!" he said in an emotionless tone. He started doing some complicated handseals and then yelled out, "Gaben!" His eyes turned green, while his pupils turn in a small "swirling" image. He looked at his target straight on and continued more handseals. "Gaben Evolution!" The size of the swirl increased as it covered 70 of his eyes now.

Toukaru just looked on with curiosity. _"So the stories of this doujutsu are true... It's emitting such power. This is unbelievable! And his chakra supply seemed to have increased greatly!"_

The shinobi put a foot forward as he looked into the Hyuuga's eyes. Then without warning, he popped up high into the air, holding up his katana up high. Toukaru looked up and prepared for the worst.

Next, he charged his katana with chakra. It started glowing a little right before the moon shined on the blade. He quickly closed his eyes as a blinding light was produced. It temporarily incapacitated Toukaru's sight, causing him to squint his eyes. Then the shinobi landed beside him swiftly, ready to take his head with his katana.

"I'll let the Hyuuga household decide your fate!" He brought his katana back slowly. Then he did a backflip kick, launching Toukaru into the air, still blinded. Then the shinobi jumped up high enough to be right in front of the Hyuuga that is now dazed and confused. He took out two kunais and launched each one to the shoulder, which was properly protected by his armor. They penetrated the armor and was stabbed into the shoulder, deep enough to be attached to the bloody wound. Toukaru gave a short cry of pain as blood dripped from his shoulders.

"H-how can this be? My armor can most definitely stand up against some small, basic projectile!" he exclaimed in anguish as they were still in mid-air.

"That's the secret power of my doujutsu, known as Gaben. In its evolved form, it opens up a hidden storage of charka in the user's body and allows the user to mold it into any form without complicated handseals. In this case, I molded my charka as an extra layer of toughness for my kunais for it to be able to break through the armor. Now let's finish this!"

A rope of charka was formed from the shinobi's hand, and he tossed it forward. It connected and tied around the finger hole of one of the kunais stabbed on his shoulder. He pulled it back, and it ripped Toukaru's wound more, causing him to yelp in agony again, as it was pulled out. The shinobi pulled his charka wire till the kunai fell back into his hand. The rope disintegrated as he launched the kunai back at the Hyuuga, but now at the side of the stomach.

Toukaru yelled in pain again as the weapon broke through his armor covered stomach and ripped his skin. A little blood gushed out from the wounded area while they fell closer and closer to the ground. "You son of a bitch! How long do you plan on torturing me?"

"Don't worry, this is the last one…" He pointed his katana behind him as charka blasted out of it, pushing him forward to the enemy. He slowly pulled his katana forward as he came closer to Toukaru. He raised his deadly weapon and slashed it downward beside the enemy. Then he twirled his signature weapon upside-down, planting it into the ground as they landed. His target's jaw made hard contact with the hilt of the katana while he landed on his knees. The impact knocked him down and out.

Then the shinobi formed another charka rope and retrieved his sheath. He put his katana back in its case and re-connected it to his belt. The he picked up the unconscious Hyuuga and walked back home as he cancelled his doujutsu.

"Another mission completed, another service to Konoha done with…," he told himself in a tired voice.

Two missions were completed from 2 of 3 of the Konoha's rising stars in the ninja business. The final man in this powerful trio (although now they're separate) was about to finish up his mission in yet another side of the forest near Konoha.

A chase was taking place. One person was jumping branch to branch swiftly with the other trying his best to keep up. They reached an open area, and the target jumped into it. This person took her mask off to release her long black hair and somewhat beautiful face. She turned around to face the person chasing her, who was standing on a tree horizontally.

"Good, the whole chase was getting troublesome…, hey, look at me! I'm talking like my sensei now!"

"Sorry, but you're not going to get any shit from me if that's what you're planning. I'm going to bring this secret scroll back to the Hidden Rock Village no matter what!"

"Land of Earth, huh? I'll make sure to check there if you manage to slip away," he said with a smirk. Clouds that was covering the moon, slowly moved to the side, allowing the light of the moon to shine on the ninja's face. He had short white hair with a mask over his mouth and below the rest of his face.

"White hair and mask…? Don't tell me you're the legendary Copy Cat Kakashi. Hatake Kakashi!" the female thief exclaimed.

"Sorry, but you won't be honored with the presence of him. But don't be too overjoyed just yet, you're facing his son right now! Remember the name, Hatake Xin, the person who will drag you back to face your punishment!"

"Well see what you got…," she stated confidently. Then she pulled out two kunais with explosive tags attached to each end, and she threw it straight forward to Xin.

Xin just smirked under his mask and jumped in the air. He flipped in mid-air and landed behind the enemy. "You have to do much better than that if you want to beat me, Carazu Kuina…"

Right as the explosion set off on the other side, he jumped and twisted his body to kick her at the side of the neck. She held her hand up and blocked the attack. She pushed his leg away, but Xin came at Kuina with another kick immediately right afterwards with his other leg. It connected straight to her face and sent her flying to the side. She twirled around while still horizontally in the air to properly land on the ground. A little blood dripped off the side of her mouth, but she just wiped it with the back of her hand as she stared at her opponent.

"You sure know how to deliver a kick, but don't think any more than just that! I won't lose!" she shouted. Then she performed several quick handseals, and the ground launched up from under Xin. He, however, easily jumped up from each extending pillar of dirt to avoid its fatal force. Then he jumped forward and did some handseals of his own to counter. A clone was formed, and it headed straight to Kuina with a kick. She put arms in front of her to block the oncoming attack, but it didn't work out exactly as planned. The clone went straight through her and dissolved behind her, surprising her tremendously, because she was now left open in the lower abdominal area. Xin took this time to quickly maneuver to beside. He spun his body and kneed her very hard in the guts to send her flying back. "Time to initiate Konohaden."

She fell on her back, but immediately tried to get back up on her feet. When she got up, she was surrounded by several clones of Xin. "I won't fall for this again!" She got into a fighting stance to prepare for the real guy. They closed in on her with their arms ready to launch a brutal assault. At the last moment, Kuina decided to defend herself, because any of them could be the real one.

They were all physically real, and they proved it by launching her into the air with fiery uppercuts. Her body burnt like the sun as she went up higher and higher. She cried out in extreme pain due to the heat wave spreading all over her body and intensifying. She opened her eyes at the right moment to see the next move of the enemy. Xin was in the same level in mid-air as her as he yelled out, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" A huge ball of flame aimed right at her front side, as she threw arms instinctively to shield from the searing heat. She closed her eyes tightly in fear of being burnt to ashes. But as she waited for the flame to singe her skin and melt her flesh, she felt nothing. She opened her eyes and saw Xin gone. "Damn, another genjutsu trick! That asshole is playing with…."

Xin came from the ground to right behind her in one leap. He launched his left knee to her lower back, while he delivered a right hand chop to her neck. She was sent twirling vertically, like a shuriken, into a tree. BAM! Kuina collided into it head first, and now her body was dropping lifelessly onto the ground at a dangerous height.

The white-haired shinobi waved his hands as leaves gathered into a pile to cushion her fall. Then it morphed into a tied net and contained her. Xin landed gently back on the ground and walked over to her. He reached into the net and ripped out the scroll, tied to her back.

"In the name of Konoha, you will now be transferred to a prison where you'll be punished accordingly for your crimes of theft and for crimes against the Country of Fire."

All three are connected through the fate of Team 14 under the leadership of Nara Shikamaru. Together, they ventured through tough and challenging times to build them into the heroes of today. Let us rewind the time of the tale to tell the Adventures of Team 14.


	2. WHAT? Shikamaru, a Jounin!

**Chapter 1: WHAT? Shikamaru, a Jounin?**

Naruto and the gang (excluding some) gathered at a barbecue restaurant, ready to hear some shocking news. Chouji was munching his food away, as the others waited patiently for him to present the information they all gathered here for today.

"So Chouji, why did you bring all of us here?" asked Rock Lee. He and the others stared at the young, chubby chuunin.

"Yeah Chouji, speak up already! I have places to go, you know?" Ino rushed. She began to tap her feet impatiently.

"Well...," Chouji started as he grabbed another slice of meat. "This new information may be too overwhelming for all of you..."

"Ugh, stop stalling already," Tenten added in as she grabbed a seat. She settled her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands. She, like Ino, had other things to do too. "My students might start slacking off without my supervision."

"Fine, fine...," he finally gave in, as he licked his fingers clean. "Shikamaru is now a jounin," he said curtly as he reached for another barbecue delicacy. But before he got to it, a loud reaction shocked his senses.

"WHAT?"

"Wow, you guys make it seem like Shikamaru isn't capable of reaching such a rank. Heh (rubs nose), I want to congratulate him man to man for finally joining the rank of most talented!" Naruto said, a while afterwards to the initial reaction. He, too, was absorbing the information in complete shock, but hid it very well. "Where is he, by the way?" He began to look around to see if Shikamaru was among the crowd.

Chouji started eating another slice. As he chewed it, he said "Ease in ab miphin wipe nhow."

"Oh, that's why he's not here...," Kiba analyzed.

"You can understand that...?" Shino asked.

"Hey, if I can understand a dog, listening to any other rubberish is an ease," he replied with a wide grin. Akamaru barked in agreement.

Then, Naruto noticed Kakashi entering the restaurant. He waved his former sensei over, as Kakashi came over with a smile. "Yo!"

"Hi Kakashi-sensei! You must know about Shikamaru's promotion already, right?" Sakura asked.

"Oh..., yeah. So that's what you guys were all loud about. I could hear all of you from outside!"

"Sorry for being disruptive...," Hinata apologized.

"No, no, I was just saying," Kakashi quickly countered. "So yeah, Xin is one of his students."

"Who's Xin?" Naruto asked dumbfoundedly. He was immediately smacked behind the head by the pink-haired jounin.

"It's his son, baka!"

"WHAT? You're married?"

Everybody else just slapped their own forehead because of Naruto's slowness.

"Ummm, Naruto-kun, we went to their marriage ceremony, remember?" Hinata reminded him.

"The one a couple of months after I came back from my training with Ero-sennin? I thought that was my welcome back party."

Everybody just stared at the blue-eyed blond dully.

"Even though you're incredibly dumb (receives evil stare from Naruto), how can you go through all the "I do" junk and whatnot and still end up clueless?" Kiba asked curiously.

Naruto gave out a wide grin as Hinata started to blush. "I was kinda late due to some prior arrangements... But I made it in time when the food was served."

Some of the others began to giggle, while Hinata grew redder. Kakashi, however, didn't seem very amused.

"I'm disappointed in you. You don't see me ever being late, especially in any event of importance..."

"LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura shouted.

The rest started to laugh, excluding the anti-socials like Neji and Shino.

After everyone finished up eating, they said their goodbyes. Kakashi was the first to leave. And next were Neji and Tenten.

"I'm going to be gone for a few weeks because of ANBU business, so tell him that I said congratulations and that it is about time he steps on to the rank he deserved for so long," Neji said.

"Wow, that's pretty rare for Neji to pay somebody a compliment," Tenten joked.

"I say what is true with no exceptions," he defended in his usual cold tone. He left the restaurant with Tenten leaving right behind him.

Shino also left 5 minutes later.

Chouji, Sakura, Rock Lee, Kiba, Hinata, and Naruto also prepared to leave before Ino felt the need to stop them.

"What is it, Ino-pig?" Sakura asked.

"One thing I don't get though...," she started as she turned to Chouji.

"How did that lazy guy finally become jounin? I'm pretty sure he never attempted to be tested for qualifications."

The others turned to Chouji also, now wondering the same thing.

"Well I'm not really sure of all the details, but I was there when it all happened..."


	3. How Troublesome! Me, a Jounin?

**Chapter 2: How Troublesome! Me, a Jounin?**

It was noon-time, the busiest time of day for all. People out in the food market sold fish, meat, and vegetables like no tomorrow, and the customers attempted to bargain like they have no money. Genins would start another mission, and chuunins were left with a short break period between classes to chat among themselves. Jounins would either be training or on a mission along with the genins they are assigned to supervise.

Meanwhile, at the park, Shikamaru and Chouji intensely battled it out. But just as it started, it quickly ended.

"Checkmate," Shikamaru said with a yawn.

Chouji frowned and sighed. "Ugh, not another loss..."

"You're getting better though, Chouji. Soon you can last to when I at least make my fifth move," he joked.

Chouji laughed a little before he noticed Asuma, Kurenai, and Shikamaru's dad approach his best friend from behind.

Asuma walked up and patted his former student on the shoulder. The lazy chuunin turned around and noticed the three adults.

"What's wrong?" Shikamaru questioned suspiciously.

Asuma took a puff from his cigarette and stared to the ground, as his dad stared at the sky, both trying to avoid having to tell Shikamaru some new information regarding him. Kurenai looked at both men in annoyance as she decided to already come out with the news.

"Shikamaru, you are officially a jounin now. Congratulations!"

Shikamaru just stared at her dully for a while. He then shook it off and faced back to Chouji, whose face was showing shock beyond infinity, to start another game of Shogi.

As he set up the pieces, he replied "Hah, very funny. If it was true, Hokage-sama would've told me about it. Everybody knows she is in charge of promotions and such." Shikamaru let off a half-assed laugh as he took a sip of his tea.

Then a letter was tossed onto the Shogi board from behind. It basically said what Kurenai just said with Tsunade's signature on the bottom. "It's the truth, son. Hokage-sama didn't want to deal with your whining, face-to-face," his dad finally said.

"Yep," Asuma added in.

Shikamaru's face just froze in complete shock. But as soon as every feature on him stood still, his body soon reacted to the fact that he was still in mid-process of drinking his tea.

The boy started to cough like mad. Chouji quickly stood up and pat him on the back.

Shikaku (Shikamaru's dad's name) look at his only son in embarrassment as his son choked. "Suck it up. Just take your new responsibilities and do the job."

Shikamaru turned around and stood up. "But..., but..., I never took a qualifying test or anything...," he hesitated.

"We all know you are more than qualified for the rank, Shikamaru," Asuma stated.

"Yeah that, and the fact that we need a new guy to take that position at the moment," Kurenai added.

"And you couldn't pick anybody else?"

"Well, you were always the obvious choice to promote year after year since you became a chuunin. You always provide other ninjas, including ANBU at times, excellent strategy. That's a huge plus we consider right there. You also have steadily improved in your genjutsu and ninjutsu so that's another plus. There is no doubt you are an excellent leader," said Asuma.

"The fact you never taken any jounin qualification exam is a big minus in you getting promoted, but this situation allows us to make that into an exception," stated his father.

Shikamaru just gave in and sighed. Continuing a losing battle any longer was too troublesome.

"Fine, but if I were to accept this new position, I don't want to deal with any more kids!" Although Shikamaru was fine with being a teacher to the students at the academy, out in the field with them would lessen his lifespan ten-folds.

"Yeah, about that...," Kurenai began. "Since Misuchi Hanaka was seriously injured on a mission several days ago, we need you to take her place to guide the team she was going to receive." Kurenai let out a smile to cheer him up, but Shikamaru just stared up at the clouds.

"The clouds..., they are so fortunate. All they have to do is be there. No problems, no worries, no responsibilities, no anything but nothing. How troublesome it is to be human," he spoke to himself.

He stared back to the others. Then he turned to Chouji, where his best friend gave a reassuring smile. Shikamaru sat back down to continue the game of Shogi. The three adults looked on to wait for his reply.

"Hai, hai..."


	4. Teaming Mix Up

**Chapter 3: Teaming Mix-Up**

It has been about an hour after Asuma, his father, and Kurenai had left after telling him the news. Chouji left a little bit after that also. He had to go home and prepare for a training trip with his dad for a couple of days.

Shikamaru stared hopelessly at the clouds while lying on the ground, admiring them for what they are. He just laid there, almost lifelessly, for an hour before he started to move and get back up on his feet.

"So it'll be three days till graduation and two days till the genin teams are set up. Hokage-sama usually decides the teams by the day after graduation, so I won't know till then. I hope I don't get stuck with any troublesome kids. Hopefully, the students I get will be from Iruka's class: they seem like a good bunch. Way better than Shigome's class and definitely better than mine's."

Shikamaru started to take a walk down by the food market, the busiest place this time of day. He didn't want to depress himself, so he wanted the noise of random people to cloud his thoughts. It didn't work as well as he thought it would. As he was about to let out another sigh, a particular loud noise to his right caught his attention.

"What? You might as well cut off my arm if you're gonna charge that much! I know another place down the street that doesn't even have anything in their whole store that could cost that much!" yelled a young, short-haired girl. She showed aggressiveness like no other person her age.

"Stop holding up my line if you're not going to buy anything!"

"Who said I wasn't going to buy it? Just lower the price, and I'll buy it!"

The meat-seller looked very agitated, as he attempted to plead the girl to get lost. She just continued trying to bargain the price.

Shikamaru finally stepped over. "Tsuzuku, stop continuing this troublesomeness and just buy it or leave already."

She turned around and noticed her teacher and finally decided to give in. "Fine," she said as she reached into her purseand handed the money. "But I better get a discount next time I come!"

Shikamaru decided to walk his student home so she can't be a harm to anybody else. She enjoyed the company and kept talking on and on to him. He wasn't really paying attention, so he didn't really care. His thoughts were still focused on his recent troublesome promotion.

"I can't wait to graduate. Finally, a step into the real world to kick some ass! Imagine in a nicely decorated black suit, I'll look so cute! And by the end of the year, the whole village of Konoha would know my name!" she spoke with excitement. She finally noticed that her teacher was very "out of it", so to speak, so she asked "So Shikamaru-sensei, is everything alright?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I'm fine," he replied. Tsuzuke smiled and continued to talk.

They finally reached her home as they said their good-byes. Shikamaru stared at the sky and predicted the approximate time it would be now.

"I might as well get home."

The days passed by pretty slowly for the young, lazy jounin. He just rested in his small apartment without going out much. A person that doesn't know him very well would think he would be depressed from just losing his job, while it is just the opposite of that.

Soon he attended graduation day, because he was a teacher. He told his class some last words of advice to prepare them for their new journey as shinobi.

"You little troublesome brats are on your first step into the real world. You will probably face a lot of hell and a lot of problems. But I' am positive that all of you are very capable to deal with them head on. In the words of Yondaime Hokage-sama, "Let not the troubles consume you, but the big picture..., the final goal blind you." So you guys, even when it gets tough, even when it seems impossible, stop and think. 'Are you willing to go as far as it takes to finish the job?'"

The class took his words close to heart, as they say their good-byes the last time as academy students.

Soon the second day after graduation came. Shizune, Tsunade's assistant and friend, rushed to Hokage's office. She saw Konoha's grandest ninja off in a deep nap.

"HOKAGE-SAMA?"

Tsunade slowly started to stir. She wiped drool off her face as she looked up to her assistant.

"Eh?"

"The teams, Tsunade..., I mean Hokage-sama. Have you set them up yet?"

"What nonsense are you talking about, Shizune?"

"Graduation was two days ago!"

"Yeah I know, I was there..."

"Well, today is the day when the new genins get assigned into 3-man cells, remember?"

"Oh that!" she replied followed by a yawn. She pulled out all the new genins' profiles in the drawer and started doing some hand seals after she put them on her lap. She whispered a couple of words, and the profiles were all shuffled. "Done. Now, you can just now record the teams on a sheet of paper."

Shizune's jaw dropped as she saw at how her job was so lazily done. "But you have to analyze their strengths and weaknesses and try to create a well-balanced team. And we never had former academy students from different classes in the same team due to tradition. You know all of that, Hokage-sama!"

"It'll be fine. Mixing it up just gives all of them a chance to know each other better and learn something new from each other," Tsunade replied as she was about to put her head down to drift off to sleep. "You should hurry..."

Shizune looked at her watch and jumped. She grabbed the big stack of profile and hurried to give them off to the teachers.

Meanwhile, the teachers (in their own classes) waited for the list of teams for their class.

"(sighs) Tsunade is extremely slow this year. She's just delaying the inevitable of giving me three kids to age me a couple of decades."

Then he heard a voice on a megaphone. It was so loud that it could be heard all over the school. "All rookie genins and their teachers are to report to the field outside to be assigned to their teams."

"Outside? That's new..."

They all started walking outside in an orderly fashion and stood in line in front of the teachers and Shizune.

"You know what's going on Shikamaru?" Iruka asked quietly.

"No clue," he replied.

"This year, Hokage-sama saw that it would be beneficial to mix things up a bit after a somewhat long discussion, weighing out the possible pros and cons. The reason why I called all 3 graduated classes out here is because we plan for genins from different classes to team up to further understand each other and strengthen the unity of Konoha," Shizune stated.

"She sure knows how to make last mine Hokage-sama sound good," one of the teachers joked among the other teachers.

Soon, one by one new teams were made. Some children cheered in joy, some cried in agony, and some were just indifferent.

After the ceremony finished, Shikamaru and some of the other teachers walked up to Shizune.

"It was good how Hokage-sama managed everything in time," joked one of the teachers.

"Heh yeah, but it would've been nice if I didn't have to rush everything at the last moment," she replied with a laugh.

"But you finished all of the work, regardless of the situation," complimented Iruka.

"Well, thank you."

"So..., sine I'm a jounin and all now, where'e the list that says which team is assigned to which jounin," joined in Shikamaru.

"Oh it's right...," she started before she paused to search through the stack of papers, before realizing something.

"She didn't make one...," she said. Shizune dropped to her knees, and Iruka immediately helped her back up.

"Now everything is a disaster now! I thought I managed to handle all of it, but I failed..." she noted in a tired voice.

Shikamaru let out a sigh. "I guess you and Hokage-sama are lucky that we have a night before the jounins have to meet up with our new disciples."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Everything is just so stressful today..."

"Yeah, those kinds of days can be a real pain in the ass. Especially when it comes at you unexpectedly," said one of the teachers.

Shikamaru nodded as he waved good-bye to all of them.

"Yep, just a night before everything becomes troublesome. I was getting used to staying close to home most of the time too..." he said to himself.

The next morning, Shikamaru woke up nice and early. He was eating a cup of ramen before something knocked (more like pecked) on his door. Shikamaru reluctantly got up and opened the door.

It was a pigeon with a letter attached to its leg. As soon as he untied the letter, he routinely patted it on the head to tell it to go away. He shut the door and opened the letter to read it.

Nara Shikamaru, your disciples, Team 14, are at the training grounds. You are to meet with them as soon as you receive the message. And as a rookie jounin, be sure to test them for them to be a part of Rookie 9 by the 15th of the month at the latest.

**Hokage**

Shikamaru sighed as he cleaned after himself at the dining table. Then he went into his room and grabbed all necessary weapons. He wore his new jounin vest over his usual fish-net shirt and headed out.

"Team 14? I wonder how troublesome will they be..."


	5. Meet Team 14

**Chapter 4: Meet Team 14**

Shikamaru casually and slowly walked on the road toward the training grounds. He was still sleepy, so he yawned a lot during the short trip.

_"I wonder who will be part of my Team 14?"_ he wondered, as he sighed at the possibilities of the possible troublesome kids he might end up with. Eventually, he reached his destination.

"Oh my God, you guys should talk more, so once that we are on a super, dangerous, exciting mission, we can communicate a lot smoother and trust each other better. Because right now, I'm not sure if I'm fine with you two guarding my behind, but that can easily change if you're willing to talk more. And did you know that being social, like me, help prevents you from getting certain lethal diseases? I mean, just look at me, I'm healthy and fine because of it. Did you also know….." spoke loudly by a girl's voice.

Shikamaru immediately sighed again once he heard the voice. He knew it was a loud-mouthed girl in his class by the name of Tsuzuku (the girl he met at the food market). He almost wanted to turn around and go home than deal with her again.

"Duty calls…," he convinced himself.

Shikamaru appeared before his three new disciples. The first person who he noticed was, of course, Tsuzuku. She immediately greeted him with joy.

He also noticed a white-haired boy that resembled a lot like Kakashi without the mask, Sharingan, or the headband over the left eye. _"Must be his kid…," _thought Shikamaru.

Then there was another guy. He looked pretty average without any standing out features. He was just a black-haired, brown-eyed, average kid.

"It is so great having you as our jounin. I thought it would be some stuck-up and extremely mean guy, you know? But luckily for us, it wasn't! This remind of this one time…," Tsuzuku began.

Shikamaru nodded his head and cut in, so this can be quick. "Go ahead and stand in line," he ordered.

Kakashi's son immediately stood up straight, while the others lined up beside him.

"Okay, the only person I know here is Anamorou Tsuzuku. You other two, introduce yourself!"

Kakashi's kid pointed at himself. Shikamaru nodded, so he began to introduce himself. "I'm Hatake Xin. Um…, what else do I have to say?"

"How about your goals?"

"I don't really have any goals yet? Uh, I'm just following this ninja career to make my dad proud…"

"I guess you can say that's your goal then, right?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess so…," Xin replied.

"_I see that the son of Konoha's number one ninja isn't very confident of himself. Hopefully, he'll learn to believe in his own abilities…" _

Shikamaru pointed at the next kid to tell him to start.

"The name's Ukitate Yin. And my goal is to serve Konoha to the best of my ability!"

"_A borned soldier, I see…," _thought Shikamaru.

Then Tsuzuku started jumping up and down to get noticed. Shikamaru sighed and waved his hand to signal her to go on ahead with her introduction.

"My name is Anamorou Tzuzuku, like Shikamaru-sensei mentioned. I' am an Aquarius, and today, my horoscope said that I will face something that will be very surprising. Now, that is part true with my former academy teacher being my jounin-sensei and all, but it is nothing over-the-top, off-the-wall, heart-attack surprise I was expecting, you know? Like 100 ninjas ambushing me at the training grounds or...," she told before Shikamaru felt the need to stop her.

"Uh, before anything else, how about stating your goals?"

"Oh okay. My goal is to be the best damn shinobi there is and there ever will be. But probably not all the way to the point where I'm given the title of Hokage, because I heard that job isn't as glorious as it is made out to be. It seems very boring, sitting there and doing office work all day. I want to have an action 24/7 action lifestyle, so my skills won't rust..." Shikamaru immediately interrupted the very talkative girl again.

"Meeting adjourned!"

"Already, you just came." she wondered.

"Yep..., later," he replied as he walked away.

"When's the next time we meet, sir?" asked Yin. Shikamaru stopped and remember he had to test them tomorrow.

"Prepare and come here tomorrow, same time, for a training test," he told them.

"A test? But I thought all those tests were over with in academy school," said Xin in a very concerned voice.

"You'll have to deal with tests all your life. Tests of loyalty, tests of strength, tests of weaknesses, tests of the life that comes with being a shinobi... Better learn to face them head-on or you'll be suffering a lot down the road," Shikamaru advised.

He just left them there, while the three new genins stood there, and not really sure what they should expect or prepare for.

Tsuzuku patted Xin on the shoulder and spoke to him. "Don't worry, whatever happens, we'll face it as a team and win!"

"Unless he plans on giving us separate tests...," joined in Yin.

"Being negative doesn't help anything, you know?" she argued.

"But being too positive leave you open for disappointment," he replied coolly. Xin just got more depressed.

"Don't listen to him, Xin. We'll win for sure," she attempted to cheer him up.

"Well I just want to tell you guys that I won't allow myself to fail this test. If this test is given to us as a team, and you guys aren't capable to do what's necessary to pass, don't butt in..."

With those last words, he walked away. Tsuzuku stuck her tongue out at him, while Xin just stared at the ground, feeling more down than before.

"_I guess if it is a team test, I'll try not to screw it up for everybody."_


	6. Knock Down or Fail P1

**Chapter 5: Knock Down or Fail (Meet Sage)**

The three genins all came home that night, not really sure what to expect of this test tomorrow that will decide their future as ninjas.

Yin handled the pressure by training with a target dummy. He implemented regular taijutsu with the occasional use of a kunai and shurikens.

Tsuzuku was still tireless and had lot of energy to burn, so she jogged around the town while carry weights. "I won't lose! I'll kick ass tomorrow no matter what!" she motivated herself loudly as she was jogging.

While the other two genins were making sure that they would dominate in their test tomorrow, Xin, however, was too nervous to do anything. He just sat on his bed and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down.

The next day, they all arrived around the same time. The kids looked around the training grounds, and saw their jounin sensei sleeping on a hammock. They walked over to him.

"Should we wake him up?" Xin asked quietly to the others.

I guess…," Yin replied curtly. He looked at the jounin in disgust once he saw a little drool dripping from his face.

"Don't worry, I got it under control," Tsuzuku said with a mischievous grin. "SHIKAMARU-SENSEI! WAKE UP!"

There was still no budging from her very loud wake up call. Xin started analyzing the body and noticed something.

"Um, I think it is an illusion…"

He touched the body, and his hand went through it.

"Took you guys long enough," Shikamaru commented as he stepped out from hiding behind the trees.

"Eh?" Tsuzuku shouted out from shock. "That's a pretty good Buunshin no Jutsu. Mine never looks that real compared to myself. Wanna see?"

"No thanks... Xin, tell me how did you tell it was a genjutsu without touching it?"

"I noticed that it wasn't breathing..."

"Nice job analyzing the subject, but there are also other clues when it comes to a simple genjutsu technique such as this one. When the sun shines on it, the sun rays pass through it. It produces no shadow. There are also other stuff, but you guys will probably forget it five minutes later, so why bother go through this troublesomeness."

"Yeah, let's get on with our test already! Wait..., was that the test? No fair, Shikamaru-sensei! We weren't prepared yet. I demand a re-take. I..."

"No need to go all ballistic. That was just to see how much you remembered from academy school. That phase of your life may be over with, but you must never forget the teachings of the academy school. Some basic stuff that it teaches you can save your life one day... Anyways, (looks at watch) I might as well start the test now. Also, let me the one to tell you that if you fail, back to being academy students you will be."

"WHAT?" they all exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah, so prepare yourself," he warned.

Tsuzuku, Xin, and Yin got into their defensive stances as they look on at what will happen next.

Shikamaru bit his thumb and performed some hand seals. He smacked the floor once he finished, and some smoke was produced.

While the genins look on with awe, Shikamaru went over to the hammock and lied down on it. "Your objective is to simply knock him down, and you'll pass."

"Knock what down?" Tsuzuku turned to her sensei and asked. Xin tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned around and saw their objective of the test.

As the smoke cleared, a big, muscular shadow-like human appeared before them. "What the hell? Who are these little midgets, Shika?"

"No need for me to say much. Just fight them," he ordered carelessly.

"Hey, fuck you! Who in the blue hell do you think you are?"

"Your master..."

"Master..., hah you're real funny! The only reason I come out is because I want to. You have no control over me!"

Shikamaru sighed and muttered about the troublesomeness of his summon before speaking out loud again. "Meet Sage, kids! Now I officially start this test."

The kids just silently stared at the huge dark figure in front of them. They weren't sure how they could even hurt him, let alone knock him down!

Yin shook off his doubts and jumped back. He took out several shurikens out of his weapons pouch. He threw all of them forward, and all of them targeted at Sage.

Sage immediately pulled out an axe out of nowhere to guard himself from the weapons. The weapons just ricocheted and hit the ground.

"You brats want to play games..., let's roll then!" Sage stated. "I'll go easy, 'cuz I don't any of your parents coming at me and start bitching away."

"Oh yeah, we'll kick your ass so bad, we'll make sure you'll never sit down without crying out in extreme pain first! C'mon Xin!" Tsuzuku shouted.

She ran forward and started throwing punches and kicks. Sage, however, dodged and blocked her attacks pretty with ease. He finally knocked her back with his axe.

"Boring...," he stated in fake tired voice. He let out a loud yawn afterwards.

"Damn, he's pretty swift for a big fellow," she said. "Xin, what are you doing standing there!"

"I..., I..., he's too strong. It's impossible for any of us to beat him!"

Tsuzuku just ignored his whining and ran forward again. "Well this is the life of the ninja!"

She went down low and tried to kick him in the legs, but Sage brought his axe down to guard from the attack. The kick hit the axe with great strength, vibrating the blade.

"_Hmm... If she works on timing and patience, she can be a lethal taijutsu force on the field..." _Shikamaru noticed.

Tsuzuku rolled back and jumped up. She spun her around and went for a kick to the neck, but Sage caught her leg. Then he lifted her body with one arm by the leg and tossed her aside hard to a tree.

He was about to make another comment, but Yin ran in close with a kunai in his hand. As he attempted to punch and slash the figure, the kunai swiftly switched hands. However, Sage was good enough to avoid the attacks. Suddenly, he caught Yin's hand with the kunai. He squeezed his wrist till the weapon dropped and kicked the boy back. Yin slid across the ground, until he hit a medium-sized rock. He remained there and didn't budge for a while.

While the two genins were getting thrashed, Xin was still too afraid to attempt to attack.

"_Although he looks a lot like his father, he is definitely a whole different character. Hopefully field experience will help him out..." _thought shikamaru.

Sage finally noticed the white-haired boy while he was waiting for the other two to recover.

"Maybe this will wake him up!" Sage spun his axe around quickly until it seemed like a vortex. "Kamaitachi!"

Blades of wind were produced and headed straight to Xin. He just stood there, still frozen from fear, and closed his eyes. As the blades were about to connect and cut him up, Yin pushed his teammate aside and received the wind-based attack.

The attack cut his skin up all over as he let out a cry of agonizing pain. Xin just stared in horror as Yin dropped to his knees.

"Yin! Are you okay?" he asked in a very concerned tone as he caught Yin from falling over.

The guy pushed him away as soon as his comrade caught him. "Don't stand there like a sitting duck! If you're not going to be no help of any kind, hide behind a tree then!" he shouted.

Then Yin stared forward at his opponent with eyes of determination. He slowly got back up to his feet. He reached into his pouch and threw down a smoke bomb.

The smoke immediately spread around the area, blinding everyone from bing able to clearly see each other's movements or their environment.

However, everybody used this chance to prepare. Sage stood beside his axe and grew very wary of any noise around him. Yin jumped tree to tree around the area, setting up a wire with many kunais attached to it. He hid behind a tree high up on a branch after he was done, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"_He sure arranged his traps quickly. He must've have lot of training prior to becoming a genin..." _observed Shikamaru as he noticed a shadow in the thick smoke high up in the trees.

During this time, Tsuzuku slowly got back up from her last assault and waited to attack also.

Xin just took a couple of steps back, so he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire and mess it up for everybody.

As soon as the smoke cleared, Yin adjusted the wire so it could immediately hit Sage. As he was about to release the attack, Tsuzuku interfered. He immediately held the wire tight again so the projectiles wouldn't be hitting his comrade as Tsuzuku went up for her next confrontation with Sage.

She ran forward, clueless of how close she was going to end up on the floor with many kunais pierced through her, to attack. She jumped up and slammed her feet down toward Sage's head. Sage responded by taking a couple of steps back, so she would miss. Then he punched her in the guts as soon as she landed and uppercut her into the air.

He threw his axe very high up in the air and jumped up along with her. He immediately elbowed her across the face once he reached her level. Then he continued attacking her with many punches, making her bleed and bruise all over.

"I have to help her!" Xin said. He looked up at the beating in mid-air, and finally decided to jump in.

As soon as Sage axe-handled (combining two fists to slam her over the head) her straight down to the ground, Xin caught her. He also flipped over and kicked Sage right in the throat.

"_That was a nice save and attack. Potential is bursting from him. Once he sees that himself, he will become a great addition to the Konoha shinobi."_ He analyzed as he looked on while lying on his hammock.

Sage moved his head back a bit from the unexpected kick, but was basically unharmed from it. As he was about to land back down on the ground to give a hell load of revenge for a genin managing to hit him, Yin finally released the wire, slinging many kunais toward him. Sage caught his axe at that exact moment and rotated very quickly. It looked like a round shield of armor was around him, deflecting all the weapons.

"Damn!" exclaimed Yin as he jumped out of the trees to dodge a kunai that was deflected right back at him.

Sage, with a big smile, landed on the ground and stared at the genins.

"Let me see which shithead I'll fuck up first. Hey, why not the white-haired punk? See how good he is when he's not attacking my by surprise!"

Xin's eyes widened in fear and started stepping backwards. He stopped when he saw two of his comrades stood in front of him to defend him.

"You have to get through us and let me tell you, we won't budge easy!" Tsuzuku shouted. Both she and Yin were exhausted, but they still didn't allow this monster to take them down easy.

Sage looked at them and then stared at his axe. Without warning, he tossed his weapon forward like a boomerang right at the kids. Both Tsuzuku and Yin ducked in time, but Xin didn't make it in time as the axe slashed straight through him. To much shock though, apparently the axe really did go STRAIGHT through.

"This kid played me for a fool. I'll make sure my beatdown will be extra rough for him!" Sage caught his axe again and got into a defensive stance.

Xin's illusion of himself faded away as Tsuzuku and Yin were still down low. The loud-mouthed girl got up and rushed forward to attack the big shadow monster.

He immediately picked her up and punched her in the face. Her forehead started gushing with blood. He tossed her aside and looked around for the next victim.

Yin must've gone back into long-range attacking, while Xin was still nowhere to be found. Suddenly, a kunai was thrown straight to Sage's chest. He caught it when it was inches away from making contact. Seconds later, a huge explosion came from the weapon.

Yin looked to see if Sage had at least fallen over from that life-threatening explosion. A dark shadow figure came out of the ground behind him. Still unnoticed, Sage lifted his axe and planned on slicing him in half. But before it came down on the genin, small balls of chakra came toward him.Yin ducked out of the way and Sage jumped out of the way. All of them hit a tree that was behind Yin, very softly. They barely left a mark. While Sage stared at what happened to the tree (questioning himself why he bothered dodging such a weak attack), Yin noticed the monster beside him and created distance between himself and him by running with very little of his energy remaining.

Sage shook it off and ran forward. Yin was still the closest to him, so he still planned to attack him. He went for another slash (this time a horizontal one), but Yin jumped up to dodge. Sage jumped up also and elbowed him in the back, knocking the weapon expert of the team to the ground.

As Yin lied there, Sage walked over and pressed his heavy foot down on his back. Yin yelled out in pain as the heavy force of the foot was increasing more and more. Eventually, he lost consciousness.

"_I'm starting to think I overdid this test. How troublesome...," _thought Shikamaru as he continued watching. His shadow was on high alert, just in case his summon went overboard.

Tsuzuku slowly lifted herself up as she was about to dash forward again. Xin appeared beside her out of nowhere and ran forward too. They both jumped on Sage, but he ripped them off of him and threw them down hard to the ground. Tsuzuku and Xin just lied there as Sage walked away.

"I guess I should call it break-time...," Shikamaru said loudly as he sat up from his hammock.

"Break-time? You and I both know that it's over..." Sage replied with an evil grin.

"Nope until the day is done or one of them decides to surrender, the test will continue..."

"I can always kill them to end this now..."

"You can try, but we both know I'll be a step ahead of you before you can even think about it...'

Sage just growled and walked away. Meanwhile, Xin slowly brought himself up. He looked at his two unconscious comrades and turned them over. "Guys, are you okay?"

Shikamaru threw over a bag of money and said "Tell them it is break-time. Come back within the day when you are ready to start the second half. There's a box of medical supplies by the hammock also." He was about to go for a walk, but Xin told him something.

"Shikamaru-sensei. Don't you think this test is impossible for us to complete? We're just genins! Rookie genins!"

"With a tough union and a good basic strategy, any opponent isn't as big or strong as he or she first seem."


	7. Knock Down or Fail P2

**Chapter 6: Knock Down or Fail (Second Half Comeback)**

Half an hour later, Yin and Tsuzuku woke up. They rested against trees with their bandaged bodies. Xin wasn't by their side, as both started reaching full consciousness of their surroundings. Yin tried to get up but fell over.

"I'm too tired and hungry to even get up..."

"Yeah, me too. Where's Xin? Does that mean that Sage guy ate him! Oh my God, does that mean we failed. I worked too hard to just go and start all over now! I was so close too... Damn that black, shadowy, mean monster! We're just kids, so why not go a little easier on us. I mean not too easy to the point where there's no challenge. Just enough so we can hold our own, you know? I swear..." She paused as she saw Xin walking over to them with bags of food.

"I thought you guys would be hungry...," he said shyly.

"Hell yeah, I'm starving. Yin's too, right?"

"Yeah..., thanks...," he answered curtly as he grabbed of food to eat from. Yin's expressing didn't seem too happy though. He seemed more isolated than he usually is with the group. _"I failed. After all that training with mehster too. I have shamed him and all his teachings..."_

All of them sat at that spot and ate. It was a pretty quiet lunch, except for Tsuzuku's occasional outbursts. Xin was half-listening and nodding to her comments, because he was worried whether or not if they could pass the second time. Yin was completely zoned out to the conversation. He realized that failure is tough to deal with, but he will just to have work harder and train more, so there won't be a repeat. Tsuzuku finally changed the topic to the test again to clear things up for herself and Yin.

"We didn't fail though..., we have till end of the day...," Xin said.

"What? Why didn't you say so? Right after this, we should jump in again. Maybe if we are lucky, that Sage guy will be off-guard or something. And if that happens, I can tackle him down hard to the ground with all of my strength. He'll be sorry for messing with me!"

Yin was also happy with the news. He was beaming with hope again, but hid it very well. He wasn't sure how this second half could be any different from the first though. He gave his all without holding back, and it wasn't even close at getting the job done. Maybe this was all impossible for him to complete the mission..., right now.

Xin interrupted Tsuzuku's boasting and Yin's self-doubt moment. He didn't want them to mess up like last time. "Guys..., uh, I think we need to change our approach...," he told them shyly.

"What do you mean, Xin-kun?" Tsuzuku asked curiously. Yin also started to pay attention to his teammate.

"Well..., we can try to work together... I mean, if we set out a basic team strategy, maybe we can knock him down...," he suggested unconfidently.

"Oh, I'm all for that! I'm just not so sure about the guy next to me..." She secretly pointed to Yin, who remained silent.

He finally spoke up and gave his opinion. "Since we're stuck as a team, we might as well try to win this thing as a team. I'm in..."

Tsuzuku cheered, while Xin smiled. He found some way to help his team and that satisfied him very much. He wasn't good in taijutsu like Tsuzuku or in long-ranged attacks like Yin, but he managed to aid the team in some way.

"So, what are your ideas on the strategy?" Yin asked Xin.

"Maybe if we jump on him all at once, he'll tip over!" Tsuzuku suggested.

"That's assuming he isn't durable in his defensive stance, which I'm pretty sure he is. Or he won't be able to knock us away before we touch him. There's also the predicament where he can just dodge to the side and slice us. He can also...," Yin started.

"Fine, I got the point...," she grumbled. She crossed her arms and remained silent.

"Well, I got an idea," Xin said.

After a while, Sage came back to the area in the training grounds they were located in. "Are we gonna finish this thing or what?"

"Calm down..., the kids can take a break as long as they wish...," Shikamaru replied in an annoyed tone.

"Tell them brats just to give up. They can't knock me down with a century worth of time, let alone less than 7 hours..."

"We're ready!" Tsuzuku shouted out loud.

"How troublesome..., I was just planning to go home and eat some food then come back. Well, whatever... Go ahead and start."

Tsuzuku and Yin immediately jumped out of sight and into the trees. Xin, however, didn't seem prepared as the rest. He was very shaky and looked into Sage's eyes with tremendous trepidation.

"Easy knockout, right here. Shika, just look and see the power of a champ," he boasted. He ran forward and raised his axe up high. He slashed diagonally downward right at the white-haired boy, as the image faded away.

"Another fucking illusion?" he shouted in rage. Before he lifted his axe up from the ground, 3 kunais came at Sage. He quickly shielded himself from the weapons with his axe.

Apparently, there were wires attached to the kunais, and they wrapped around the axe. "What the hell is this?" He was about to pull his axe hard to gain control of his weapon, but another interruption came along.

Tsuzuku dashed forward and prepared to punch him hard. Sage released grip on the axe and jumped to the side to dodge the heavy blow. She continued to strike him to create distance between himself and the weapon. The shadow monster noticed what she was doing and knocked her back with one arm. Tsuzuku rolled on the ground but immediately rebounded to her feet.

"Plan Disarm-Shadow-Bastard complete!" said Yin. He pulled his wires, from behind the trees, but the weapon didn't budge. He continued with more effort, but to no luck.

"How can this guy carry such a heavy weapon..., with one hand too!" he exclaimed. Yin jumped out to where the axe was, and set up a trap around it. He quickly set up extra wires by attaching it to the ground with needles. He also put on explosive tags on the wires, so trying to get in close contact to the weapon was instant death.

"Hmph, you think without that axe, I'm totally helpless?" he started. His hands soon mutated into sharp blades. "These work just as fine."

He saw Tsuzuku closest to him. Sage ran to her and started punching with the blades stuck out. She managed to dodge some, but the rest, she wasn't so fortunate. She was getting cut up all over

"I have to slow him down a bit," whispered Yin.

He took out some needles from his pockets and aimed them all at Sage. One each hit his forearms, and one each hit his knees very accurately. The monster temporarily bent over, giving Tsuzuku enough time to retreat.

"I guess it's time to start the final stage of our plan," Tsuzuku said with a smirk as she held over her newly cut wounds.

Out of the trees, Xin landed beside her. "Let's do this then!" he told her in a more confident voice. They both ran forward, toward the opponent to launch their final set of attacks they discussed about to knock this guy down.

Sage was about to get into a defensive stance, but he noticed at the corner of his eye that Yin just threw several shurikens at him, aimed low near the knee area.

He jumped up high onto a tree branch to avoid the weapons. Xin and Tsuzuku continued to dash toward Sage. Yin tossed a smoke bomb once they reached the base of the tree, to cover his teammates' presence.

Suddenly, two Tsuzukus jumped up from the cloud of smoke, and each climbed the tree to the left and the right of the tree Sage was on. They jumped back and forth trying to attack Sage. He, however, dodged their attacks for a while by moving around cautiously on the branch he stood on. At one point, he punched one of the Tsuzukus, but his blade went straight through her. The illusion faded away, and Sage immediately turned around to attack the other one.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" she shouted as a log replaced her body. The blade pierced through the log, sticking to his arm. Before the monster can shake it off, three kunais came from Yin and hit the log. They pierced through the log half-way and were basically attached to it.

"Ha, you missed!" Before he can boast any longer, he noticed one kunai had an explosive tag attached to it. He immediately transformed his other hand back to normal (it was still a blade, remember?) and pulled out the piece of log from the blade and threw it way high up. It went up and went back down to the ground without any explosion of any kind.

"What the hell?" he said as he stared at the piece of wood on the ground, expecting it to explode at any time.

While he was distracted, Tsuzuku, who was right under him, jumped up and hit the branch hard with all her force once the smoke faded away. It broke off from the tree, and Sage fell to the ground unexpectedly.

THUD!

Sage was lying on his back in the dirt. Tsuzuku jumped up and down at the joy of finally completing the test. Xin jumped out of the trees with a wide smile. Yin gave a small grin before he fell on his knees from exhaustion.

"Congrats, you guys are now 'real' genins. I'm real proud to be the sensei for all three of you. Tsuzuku showed excellent display of power and durability. Yin was amazing in accuracy of long-ranged attacks and deceit for his age. And Xin did pretty well overall. A person your age using basic jutsus in such perfect situations shows that you are a natural. You used genjutsu illusions several times to throw off the enemy. You also used Henge no Jutsu to disguise yourself as your comrade to fool Sage (the two Tsuzukus attacking him was Xin and an illusion). Well done, Team 14!"

Tsuzuku was about to start go on and on to express her joy at this moment, but Sage got back up to his feet, and he wasn't one happy summon.

"Fucking brats! I'm gonna kill them all!"

"SHADOW PRISON!" Shikamaru shouted as he performed complicated handseals. Shadow bars rose from the ground all around Sage, trapping him into an area of a cage.

"I'll just break out of this bitch!" he yelled. He was about to punch the bars before Shikamaru stopped him with his words.

"Fine, but we both know that upon contact with it, you'll be dragged into an illusion of your version of hell. A never-ending nightmare till I see fit...," he warned.

"I'll..., I'll go underground and escape then!"

"Who's to say that the prison doesn't have bars under there..."

"Pfft, I'm getting real sick of you, Shika!" He made himself puff into thin air and went back to where he was from, along with his axe, disarming all the traps around it. The "Shadow Prison" disappeared slowly as Shikamaru walked away.

"H-how do we know it won't just come back to kill us?" Xin hesitated

"Don't worry! For him to go to this world and back, it takes a lot of energy. With the ultimate battle you guys just had with him added onto that, it'll be at least a day before he comes back. And although Sage is a pain in the ass, he doesn't keep grudges long, unless you really irritate him. And oh yeah, meet here tomorrow at 12, so Team 14 can officially start doing missions..."

Yin slowly got back up to his feet and started walking toward to the others. "So..., I guess you guys aren't too bad for teammates. See you tomorrow..." he commented as he walked in the direction of his home.

"What a great way to end the day! That was an amazing comeback, don't you think? The star player was, of course, me. You heard what Shikamaru-sensei said to me? He knows I'm gonna be great one day, and...," Tsuzuku began,

Uh, I have to go home. Bye!" Xin said as he ran away from her with the energy he had left.

Tsuzuku saw that everyone left and sighed. "Yep, me and team 14 are going to be legendary one day. World, watch out, the best is about to be BORN!"

**Author's Note:** For anybody who reads this fic, please start reviewing. You'll help fuel the author (that's me) to keep going on with the story and maybe even take part on improving the story. Regardless if you're a member or not, fan of the chapter/story or not, if you took time to read a selection, please take time to review each chapter you read and give me some opinions of what you thought. Thank You!

Also, for anybody who didn't notice, I added a prelude to replace chapter 1, chapter 1 to replace chapter 2 and so forth. It shows the future for this team to hook in more readers and hopefully more stable reviewers. Check it out also if you haven't already.


	8. The BIG Mission Intro P1

**Chapter 7: The BIG Mission Intro Part 1**

Soon Team 14 engaged in some missions. Of course, such an inexperienced team wasn't given any missions, involving risks or danger. Nope, it was just your average D-ranked assignments. They handled dog walking to trash cleaning to doing household errands for the wealthy people. It was boring, and Tsuzuku made sure it was known. She, like most kids her age, craved to be involved into a highly classified adventure and save the day, not delivering a message from Hyuuga-sama to an elder of Konoha…

"This blows…," said Tsuzuku as they are walking home from their latest mission. "I mean they should hire servants for these kinds of jobs we do, not shinobi. We're meant for fighting, not this boring junk. Don't you guys agree?"

"Well, I'm kinda fine with this set-up. Doing all these low-ranked missions will probably help us prepare for the tougher ones, right Shikamaru-sensei?" inputted Xin.

"Huh? Oh, not really. We're just helping the village gather funds…," said Shikamaru casually. "Well, I'll see you kids tomorrow, same time and same place as usual." He turned right into an alleyway and departed from the others.

"Hmph, whatever. Yin probably knows what I'm talking about, right? Without any challenges, our skills will rust, and by the time we're given "real" missions, we won't be ready at all!" she spoke loudly to her comrades.

"I usually train once I get home, so that's not a problem for me. Also, as long as I'm helping our village in some form, I'm satisfied…," he replied.

"God, nobody understands me!" she yelled.

Soon, they all parted ways to return to their respective homes. Three genins came to bed with different thoughts running through their heads. Tsuzuku hoped that they would at least experience a C-rank mission tomorrow. Xin prayed that tomorrow will be another successful mission without any casualties, like every night. Yin slept with no burdens, worries, or expectations. He care more about the present at the moment, and since the day was done, his state of mind was totally relaxed. Well, except for one thing…

The next day, the young shinobis arrived at the training grounds at the usual time. As usual, their jounin-sensei is the first to greet them once they came.

"Hey, you lil' brats, let's go on to our next mission and get it over with."

Tsuzuku's eyes brightened as she saw the possible possibility of excitement. She was about to ask him a question to confirm if her woman's intuition kicked in yet. Today, she felt it was time for Team 14 to be on the next step to test their strengths and show everyone that they have no weaknesses.

Before she could start, Shikamaru quickly replied, "No…"

"Not even a little…"

"No…"

"How about…"

"Nope…"

"Ah, but there's always…"

"God damn it, he said no!" Yin outbursted. The others looked at him surprised. They usually go through this ritual every morning, and that exchange would last about 5 minutes every time before one side gives in (usually Shikamaru, because continuing would be too troublesome…).

"You okay, Yin?" Xin asked in a concerned tone.

"No, it's nothing…," he quickly replied. He attempted to change the topic with, "Let's get on with this mission already."

"Yeah, we'll get to that… If you aren't 100, go home and rest. Although this mission has a low possibility of any danger or threat, I don't want any of my men distracted. I want them at their best and nothing less."

"Hai! I'm fine…, really."

"Okay then, let's get on with the mission briefing."

"Let's see, what we're gonna do today? Buy groceries for old people or clean the alleyways of grafitti? Ooh, how about dumpster diving to find a lost, extremely-valuable-but-ain't-worth-nothing bracelet? How fun…" Tsuzuku said sarcastically.

"Well…, not even close. A rich family by the name of Fuugen decided to fund our village on the account of that we pick up their kid from the park everyday. Today, Team 14 is on the case, so let's get this troublesomeness over with."

Shikamaru led the way as they casually walked to the park. As usual, on their trip to their mission location, Tsuzuku eliminated the silence and dullness with her complaints, goals, expectations, concerns on current events, stories about her past, and somewhere along the line, the mission at hand.

"So, what does this kid look like? Boy? Girl? Short? Tall? Fat? Skinny? Blonde? Brunette? Light-skinned? Dark-skinned?" She was about to continue on and on, but Yin interrupted her.

He didn't want Yin to outburst again and get sent home. "Umm…, we got the point, Tsuzuku. So Shikamaru-sensei…?"

"The basic description is a short, blue-eyed, brown-haired, 3-4 feet tall boy with the age of 5 and three-quarters. He won't be hard to find though. Apparently, he's playing in a private park owned by his family. He doesn't have any friends, so he'll be very easy to find."

"Wow, their family must be loaded!" Tsuzuku spoke loudly with enthusiasm. "I wonder if we will get any bonuses from them outta this. There's this very nice brace knuckles I've been wanting, but with my allowance it'll take ages to get it!"

"Well, there's also the salary we get each month," Xin stated.

"With what they're paying us, all of that money would be gone by the time I eat a bowl of ramen!"

"So…," Yin changed the subject, "Are the guards at the gate aware of our visit?"

"What do guards being at a gate have to do anything with our mission?" she asked dumbfoundedly.

"Yes," Shikamaru answered, "I see that you have noticed Fuugen Park at the edge of town before."

"Yeah, I walked by there a couple of times," he replied curtly.

Tsuzuku was fuming with impatience being ignored. Shikamaru noticed her expression at the corner of his eye and decided to explain. "Fuugen Park is a private park for Mr. and Mrs. Fuugen's son. And to make sure their son is safe and isolated from bad people, there's a big fence surrounding the acre of land ("It's not that big," commented Yin softly) with two guards supervising the front gate. Understand?"

Tsuzuku nodded as she was getting more and more excited to see the place. "Oh my God, will there be a pool? I would love to go swimming on a nice day like this!"

Soon, they arrived at the private park, but something wasn't right with the place. They had an eerie feeling as they walked around to approach the front gate. "The guards are unconscious…"


	9. The BIG Mission Intro P2

**Chapter 8: The BIG Mission INTRO Part 2**

"Team 14, be on your guard!" The kids nodded as they cautiously advanced forward to the fallen guards at the front gate. Shikamaru bent down and began to check the pulses on their necks as he noticed their bruises.

"Luckily, they're still alive. Tsuzuku, rush to the hospital and tell them to bring an ambulance down here with some medic-nins accompanying it," he ordered.

"Hai!" she responded obediently. She started running in the opposite direction from the gate at her top speed, which was pretty fast for her rank. The tension of the situation must've elevated her speed, plus the excitement of an exciting mission unfolding.

Shikamaru started doing some handseals as Sage, his fiery shadow summon, was pulled out involuntarily.

Sage being the grump he is, had a grudge for being interrupted in the middle of the day. "What the hell did you call me out for?" he asked in his usual cranky tone of voice. He looked around and saw two unconscious guards on the ground. "I don't see why you need me out here. It looks like you already finished the job."

Shikamaru ignored his accusation and went on to issue him his priorities at the scene of the crime. "Go underground and check the premises to see if there are enemies."

"Who the hell do you think you are talking to, brat? I'm not gonna let some punk-ass kid like you order me around!" he responded rebelliously.

"Sage!' he raised his tone to declare that this time isn't meant for messing around. That kind of tone sent chills down the body of the two students since they never saw him this serious before.

"Pfft, whatever…," Sage replied. He reluctantly followed his master's (although he would prefer to call him bitch's) orders and investigated the scene from below the surface. Of course, in retrospect, this was the best way to handle it. If they were to walk straight in, they could be caught in a surprise attack or trap. Even it were to be a straight up confrontation (something that would've happen if a fearless idiot like Naruto was behind it), it would still be to their disadvantage, because he had unprepared genins under his supervision which would most likely used against him if he were ever to have the upper hand in battle. All options considered, Shikamaru decided this to be the best. Even if the enemy had the ability to see through the surface, Sage could stand on his own two feet long enough for Shikamaru to realize the situation and help him out.

As Sage did his job, Shikamaru examined the front gate, the possible entry point. It was left open and swinging back and forth a little with a small creaking noise. He looked at the lock of the gate, and what he saw was a broken one.

Xin looked on in a very terrified manner. He tried to stand tall and look fearless, but his attempt was easily seen through. The shaky legs and dripping sweat was a clear sign to any random person that this situation didn't fit well with him.

"You okay?" Yin asked quietly as he observed the fear symptoms coming from his teammate.

"Um…, yeah. I'm okay…"

"Don't worry. If anything happens, I'll be beside you. Shikamaru and Sage are also here, so we should be alright," Yin comforted him. Although he didn't like doing these kind of stuff, it is a shinobi's duty to be calm, in case there's an ambush. Passing on such an advice to a comrade is also their duty, so the other person won't become a burden to the mission.

"Y-yeah, you're right! I feel much better now. Thanks!" he spoke a little bit more confidently.

As more time pass, Sage finally returned from his underground mission. He immediately noticed that the white-haired kid was shaking (naturally, Xin was still afraid of the possible unknown) and broke out a smirk. "You chose the wrong profession if you're already wetting your pants in face of such a small problem."

"Enough about that. What did you find?" Shikamaru asked.

"No enemies around from what I could see."

"Noticed anything in particular?"

"There seemed to be a little blood and ground disturbance by the swings."

"Okay, thank you. (turns to the rest) Team 14, we are entering the park. Again, be on your guard!" he addressed. He walked cautiously through the gate with two genins behind him.

Yin pulled out his kunai with one hand and put the other one near his weapon pouch. He then tuned himself to become very sensitive to any noise. _"This mission had advanced into a more serious situation. It is my duty for us to be able to get through this thing!" _he thought.

Xin also decided to pull out a kunai also for his self defense. He nervously brought out his weapon of choice and held it tight with two hands. He looked behind him and noticed Sage wasn't behind him. In fact, Sage didn't enter the park at all. "Um, Shikamaru-sensei," he called.

Shikamaru turned around and looked at him. "Anything wrong?"

"Well, Sage didn't…," he started before Shikamaru cut in.

"Don't worry about him. He probably left off in a tantrum, because I made him look inferior in front of everybody. Anything else?"

The young white-hair genin shook his head, and they continued to advance. They soon reached the swings, and as Shikamaru's summon mentioned, this area definitely was suspicious.

Shikamaru bent down and looked at the swing. There seemed to be a drip of blood onto the steel chain that took part in holding the swing up.

Then the jounin turned and faced the ground he stood on. Rest of the grass seemed pretty smooth except this particular spot. It was like they dragged the body a little before lifting him up.

Yin turned and noticed a siren. "Sir, the ambulance has arrived." Let's head out then," he commanded as the two young shinobi turned and walked out toward the gate. He was about to follow them, but he noticed an envelope on the ground beside a tree that was in front of the swings. He ran over and stuffed it into his pocket and headed out along with the rest.

Immediately when they exited, Tsuzuku began to ask impatiently about what lied beyond the gate as the medic-nins lifted the fallen guards onto the stretchers. "Were there any more unconscious bodies in there? Dead? Oh my god, buried alive? Horrible, I tell you! These punks deserve a good beating from me!"

"Nothing of that sort occurred. There weren't any real clues either…," Yin said.

"Actually I did find some. We are to report to the Fuugen residence immediately of the incident and allow them to decide what's the best option for them there. Naturally after that, our mission should be over (Tsuzuku starts frowning. _"Done already? I haven't even done any fighting yet...")_, but I have a feeling things are going to get a lot more troublesome," he stated.

"Should we communicate with Hokage-sama too?" Xin asked.

"Not necessary yet. We'll deal with the task at hand first before we commit to anything else," the pony-tailed jounin replied.

"Hai!"

Five minutes later, they reached the huge estate of the Fuugen family. It was the biggest house the three genins ever saw and their faces told so.

"Wow," commented Tsuzuku. She was actually speechless…, for a couple of seconds. "Man! Now there can be a lot of great fun we can have here. Parties, tournaments, ninja war, movie night, and other stuff too. Oh, and they probably have great cooks also. Imagine the restaurant experience without going to an actual restaurant. That's just plain mad!"

"Yeah…," Shikamaru replied dully, "Anyways, we have no time to waste. Let's head in."

They continued walking forward and talked to the security guards guarding the front door. They reported to Mrs. Fuugen with the alarming news through the intercom. They were immediately invited inside.

"What happened to my son?" the mother came at him in a panicked expression. She ran up to Shikamaru and grabbed his vest. "Weren't you supposed to escort him?"

The maids pacified the woman so she would release the messenger of the bad news who was also one of her guests. "We're very sorry. Our mistress is very distressed. Can you please come inside and tell us more of the situation?"

"Of course."

They walked into the living room and sat down. Before the discussion began, Team 14 was offered beverages, but Shikamaru declined the offer for his team. They didn't plan for staying long.

"Your son was kidnapped at the park at approximately 10 am to 1 pm. There was forced entry at the gate after two guards were rendered unconscious. The bruises on the body show that they were attacked and didn't fall under any kind of genjutsu spell. There seemed to be struggling at the spot of the kidnapping, which was near the swings, and a little blood was spilled (the horrified parent gasps at this moment). There was also a note left behind at the scene of the crime. I consider you to read it (he hands over the note). You don't have to share any information with us about the letter. Now that's over with, we'll take our leave."

He and the rest of the team were about to get up, but the mother immediately stopped them. "Please, stay. I don't think I can handle all of this alone right now."

Shikamaru politely gave in to her request and sat back down along with his three genins students.

The envelope was addressed to the Fuugen household (naturally) and a tiny mark of blood (most likely the abducted child's) was imprinted beside the name. The mother handed it over to one of her maids to read it out loud, because she was too concerned and scared for what contents that may be inside. The maid responded obediently and began to read the note.

"_Well, hello Fuugen family. As you might have known by now, we kidnapped your beloved child. Quite a feisty brat, ain't he? If you ever want to see him in one piece, you better know your role and pay us 1,000,000 ryou. You will meet us at the border between Konoha and the Lightning Country from the moment you receive the letter to at most three days. If you bring any authorities along with you, you might as well kiss your son's ass goodbye. Same consequences apply if you're late even one second."_


	10. Let's Get on with the Mission Already!

**Chapter 10: Let's Get On with the Mission Already!**

All three genins arrived at the appointed location in front of the path that will lead these young ninjas toward their first real mission, which happened to be at the border between Konoha and the Lightning Country. Shikamaru waited for them there with a still very nervous mother of the kidnapped victim. He was wearing a black bodysuit with no Konoha headband in sight. Mrs. Fuugen sat on a horse carriage, while the lazy jounin stood beside her.

"Okay!" shouted Tsuzuku, "Let's go kick some…"

She was interrupted by Shikamaru passing black goggles to her and the other two guys. They wore their dark eye gear as they looked on to their sensei to see what he was going to say.

"As I said before, these goggles will allow you to see invisible markings made with this marker." Next, he pulled out a black marker and drew a line on the tree.

Tsuzuku kept on putting on and taking out her goggle to see the "greatness" of that writing utensil. "Oh man, this is awesome! I'm so getting one for my birthday!"

"Now pay close attention, kids. The red marker means that there may be a trap around that area. You are to avoid it at all costs, even if that means taking the long way around it. Understand?"

All three nodded simultaneously, as Shikamaru continued one with his instructions. "And this black marker means you will stay at where you are until signaled otherwise…"

"What will the signal be, Shikamaru-sensei?" Xin asked. He was shaky since he heard that they had to undertake such a mission, and now is no different than before, if not worse.

"I was about to get to that," he replied with an annoyed expression. "I will flash a thin layer of light onto the tree I marked with the black marker. It will glow brightly, so it won't be hard to notice. In the best case scenario, the only time I will use this color will be when me and Mrs. Fuugen have reached our destination point. Of course, there may be other cases, so be on the lookout with this color also. Anyways, I will flash it once so you guys will be aware of my status of being fine. Twice, if I need back-up. If I flash it three times in a row, that would mean the mission is over, and we will meet up back here for safety precautions. If you don't see me or my signal any time over five minutes, you have my permission to move in. I expect the leader to use his best judgment on how to go on about that concerning the situation."

"Aww, you'll probably never call for back-up and hog up all the action. My dad did the same thing, but with MY money that I won from a raffle. He said he'll give me some share out of the total, although I should have all of it, and never even gave me that small portion either! Ugh, I'm still mad at him for that till this day! Well, not that mad. I'm not like one of those petty rich folks who gets irritated by the littlest things, no offense Mrs. Fuugen. I'm more like…," she started before Yin stopped her.

"As team captain, I order you to be quiet for the rest of the mission to the best of your ability."

Tsuzuku fumed at him, but did miraculously remain quiet…, for the time being anyways.

"Anyways, are we clear, Team 14?" he asked in a loud, authorative manner.

"Hai!" all three replied.

"Good, and remember, don't go within 5 kilometers of us. Any of you have binoculars on you?"

Xin and Tsuzuku checked their pockets, but to no avail. "Sorry, we don't…," they both replied in a sad tone.

"How pathetic…," Yin commented in an arrogant manner.

"Hmph, do you have one then, Mr I'm-better-than-everyone-else?" she asked rudely.

"No…, but at least I'm fully aware of not having one equipped on me," he replied, facing away from his team.

Shikamaru sighed and took out a pair of binoculars and tossed it to Yin. "You guys are really a troublesome bunch… Anyways, we're off!"

He got on the horse carriage with Mrs. Fuugen, who was happening to carry a bag tightly against her chest. The bag was most likely full of money. Shikamaru used a whip to get the horse going, and soon they were out of sight. The rest of team 14 stood there waiting until the perfect distance laid between them.

The moment of silence between seemed to be very tough on Yin. The longer the wait was, the more the fear and anxiety consumed him. "A-are we ready to go yet?" asked Yin nervously. He was staring at the ground and was shaking. It wasn't that much, but still noticable to the eyes of his comrades.

"Don't worry, Xin-kun! We got this thing in the bag with Shikamaru-sensei and me on the scene. Don't you fret over it!" Tsuzuku spoke confidently.

"It is safe to say that they are 5 km away by now. Let's move out, Team 14!" Yin instructed as he jumped onto a tree branch.

Finally, let's get on with the mission already!" She hopped onto a low branch on the other side of the path Yin was on, and hopped up branch to branch till she reached the appropiate height to advance the quickest. Xin jumped up also on the same side, but was a tree behind her.

They all started jumping branch to branch in a casual manner, trying to adjust their speed to the same velocity of the carriage to maintain the 5 kilometers between them.

Time went on, and the concerned mother needed some comfort. However, she also needed a taste of reality.

"Will Sagel really be alright? Don't try to protect my feelings. I want the hard truth!" demanded the mother. She wanted to the real situation at hand, regardless how hard it would be for her when she hears it.

"To be honest, lot of things can go wrong. The enemy can already be onto us, and now we are merely just their pawns until they receive the money. That could also mean that they already killed your son…"

She let out a sound of depression and shock as a response. It was awkwardly silent for quite a while, before anybody said another word.

"Don't worry, whatever happens, we'll take the necessary steps to handle the situation. Also…, as long as you believe in him, he'll keep on fighting until the moment you can save him."

His short combination of words boosted her faith and confidence immensely. "You're right! I can't doubt his survival and you abilities. We're going to get through this!"

While back to the genins, the two guys were involuntarily pressured to listening the loud-mouthed kunoichi as they traveled along the path set by the trees.

"So I told myself that I will pass the damn test no matter what. I started to train and study a bit to prep myself up for the exam also. But I got bored with all that gibberish and decided to just go out and play. You know that saying about not overstudying or you'll fail. Well, that's very true. Although you can't consider 5 minutes of doing it really in the status of "over", but guess what? I still passed with a "D". Sure, a low "D", but I still passed. And…" Before she can tell the rest of her story, a hush started by Yin silenced her.

Their movements stopped as the group leader examined the trees in front of him. "That's a red marker. Take out the map, Xin," he commanded.

Xin hesitantly reached into his pouch and pulled out the map. His hands were shaky, due to them being so near to a possible deadly trap, causing him to drop it. Tsuzuku leaped over to Xin's side to catch the map. Then she flipped and clinged her legs to a nearby branch to prevent her from hitting the floor. She opened up the map and read it upside-down, while she was upside-down herself.

"Very interesting…, what am I looking at here?" she asked dumbfoundedly.

"Apparently, a map of "Ahonok"… Pass it over here." She tossed it over and he caught it swiftly with one hand.

"It seems we're really near to the enemy territory now, so it makes sense that there would be some traps for security reasons…"

"Finally, we're here! Let's go!" she said excitedly.

"Wait! Shikamaru-sensei said that we should avoid all possible traps at all cost. We should go around it," stated Xin in a worried tone.

"But Shikamaru-sensei got through here fine, right? We'll just waste time by going the long way. What if he needs us? What if he's suddenly ambushed and needs back-up? What if he's there waiting for the rest of Team 14 to save the day, and we're going all the way around to reach him? I'm going straight in!" she said as she stood straight back up on the branch again. She was about to leap forward, but Yin put his hand on her shoulder to momentarily stop her to discuss further.

"I'm the leader, and I say Yin's right. Shikamaru was able to get through, because he's capable of scanning the possible things to activate a trap and avoid it. On our side though, we're not even sure where the trap lies and that's coming from a person who's intends on becoming a specialist on this field. We can never be too sure going through a trap with our level of experience..."

"Leader, Leader… stop rubbing it in my face, will ya? Just because you were lucky in picking a random number doesn't mean anything! Stop being so full of yourself," she argued in an agitated tone.

"If you can't deal with the fact that I' am the one giving orders here, then leave! Wait, you know what? I'm ordering you to be dismissed!"

"You can't do that!"

"I'm afraid I can. Report to me when I get back from the mission," Yin responded in a cold-hearted manner.

Tsuzuku showed an expression of rage, and she was about to get really violent on him. Xin jumped inbetween to mediate the situation.

"Guys, we're on a mission here! We can't just side-track and start fighing among ourselves. It will reduce the success rate of our mission if we continue on like this. Plus, we're friends, right?"

There was an intense silence afterwards for a moment before anyone of them replied. "I'm sorry…," apologized Tsuzuku reluctantly.

"Yeah, whatever… Let's just move on. Shikamaru-sensei is one of the smartest shinobi I know. He can take care of himself. We can't help him at all if we're caught in a trap or get ourselves killed. Agree?"

Xin nodded cheerfully as Tsuzuku finally agreed with him, although not very willing.

It took a while to go around the trap without accidently activating it, but they eventually did it and got back on path.

"We should be getting closer to the shelter. Xin, watch the map and Tsuzuku look out for any other marks on the trees," he ordered as they advanced.

A couple of minutes later, Tsuzuku shouted, "Found the black marking on that tree over there." She pointed to the tree ahead of them, a little bit to the left of them.

All three stopped on the same branch of that tree as Yin pulled out the binoculars.

"You see them?" Tsuzuku asked impatiently.

"I see the horse carriage right in front of a cabin. That must be where the gang's located along with Shikamaru-sensei and Mrs. Fuugen," he informed them as he continued watching.

"Alright, let's go!" said Tsuzuku joyfully. She couldn't bear the non-action scenes any longer.

Did you forget, Tsuzuku? We're supposed to wait here until we get the signal," remined Xin, who was somewhat glad that that order was made clear. This meant that they wouldn't be exposed to danger unless the situation absolutely calls for it. "But how do we know if Shikamaru-sensei's not hurt?"

"All we can do is hope the best. When five minutes have passed without any type of signal, we will rush in."

"Come on, sensei. Please allow me to kick some ass!" Tsuzuku prayed. Her feet tapped impatiently as she was getting more and more excited every passing second.

"Even if the 5-minute mark reaches, we will still handle the situation with shinobi expertise. And that means stealth and observation before acting. Understand, you two?"

"Hai, hai, hai, hai, hai…," she replied in an exhausted manner.

"Okay, that sounds good," Xin replied as he took the binoculars from Yin and watched the cabin.

A very intense five minutes passed by slowly without any signs on the status of their sensei, and Yin finally issued the order for them to move in. "Let's go…"

"_Shikamaru-sensei, are you alright?"_

"_Sensei, you better not die on us!"_

"_The mission will be completed no matter what. I hope we'll see you by the time it's done…" _


End file.
